Manufacture of pins for potters  use



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

0 w. DONAGHUE. MANUFACTURE OF PINS FOR POTTERS USE. No. 452 435.

Patented May 19, 1891.

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Patented May 19,1891.

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@Xktvmooeo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

CHARLES IV. DONAGHUE', OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

MANUFACTURE OF PINS FOR POTTERS USE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,435, dated May 19, 1891. Application filed September 26, 1889- Serial No. 325,173. (No model.)

To all whom it mag, concern:

Be it known thatI, CHARLES W. DONAGHUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Pius for Potters Use, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has relation to pins used in the manufacture of earthenware; and my said invention consists of a machine adapted to be driven by power in which after the clay has been kneaded and worked into the proper condition it is forced through a die-plate having niultitudinous holes situated at the bottom of the clay-chamber, as for the purposes as will be hereinafter more fully described and form the subject-matter of the appended claims.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the manufacture of pins for potters use; and to accomplish this the plunger is operated by an engine through suitable connections between said engine and plunger, to be herein after in detail explained, and the die-plate at the bottom of the clay chamber, through which the clay is forced and which gives to the pins or strips of clay their desired shape, is provided with multitudinous holes, instead of a single hole, as has heretofore been the practice, which holes may be of the same or of a variety of shapes, whereby at a single operation of the machine a number of pins are produced either all of the same shape or of various shapes, instead of but one pin being produced at a time, as heretofore, and through the direct action. of the plunger upon the clay the same is quickly and thoroughly kneaded and incorporated into the required condition for forming into pins.

In carrying out the details of my invention I proceed as follows, reference now being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which drawings 7 Figure 1 is a View in side elevation of a machine for manufacturing pins for potters use constructed according to my invention, and Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail detached view of the dieplate, and Fig. 4; is a view of the board upon which the strips are received as they come from the die-plate.

Similar letters of reference designate like parts in' the several figures.

The frame of the machine is composed of two uprights A A, connected by cross-pieces B and supported upon a table 0.

The letter F indicates a shaft journaled at its inner end in a bearing E in the frame of the machine. The said shaft carries at its outer end a driving-pulley F and a small pinion K, which meshes with a large gear-wheel J mounted on a shaft I, j ournaled in hearings on the main frame A. shaft has mounted on it a small pinion H, which intermesheswith the wheel G, which is journaled in a bearing G in the frame of the machine. The above arrangement of the gearing distributes the strain thereon, and by applying a crank-handle to the pulley F, or by removing the said pulley and applying a crank-handle to the wheel J permits the machine to be operated by hand. Upon the wheel G is a crank-pin g, which,by a crank-arm or pitman L, communicates motion to the rod M of the plunger N, and this rod M has a vertically-reciprocating movement in suitable bearings min the cross-bars B of the frame A. The degree of Vertical movement of this rod M, and consequently the corresponding play of the plunger N, may be regulated by the adjustment of the said rod M in the arm g, through which arm the said rod M passes and is secured by a key g this arm g forming the connection between the plunger-rod and the pitman L. This completes the description of the mechanism for operating the plunger,which plunger, it might be well to state, is removable from the plungerrod and is made in different forms to either knead the clay in the clay-chamber or simply act as aplunger-head to force the clay through the die-plate at the bottom of the chamber when such is in position for forming pins. I will therefore now proceed to describe the means for forming the pins. Upon the inner edge of each of the uprights A Act the frameof the machine are secured brackets O O, which brackets extend or project outward from the face of the said uprights A, as shown in Fig. 1, and are formed upon theirtop edge witha track The inner end of said IO in its proper position by the groove 17 of the flange of the clay-chamber. This clay-chamber is, as shown, made in two parts P and P, which are connected to each other by bolts which pass through the flanges p, formed on eaehsectiou. Thetoppart1ispreferablycylindrical and of such size relatively to the plunger N that said plunger will closely fit said chamber, and the lower section I" is made to incline forward and with the rear wall 71 inclined or made to approach the front wall 17 as itnears the discharging end. In other words, the portion P of the elay-chamberis narrower from front to back at its bottom end than at its top, as shown in Fig. 1, and by reference to Fig. 2 it will also be seen that while the front and back of this section of the clay-chamberconverge toward its lower end the sides thereof diverge, the discharge end of the clay-charm ber being wider from side to side and narrower from front to back than at its top. The object of this construction is to compress the clay into a long narrow compass, whereby it is brought to the properhomogeneous condition and temper to be formed into pins of the desired strength, rte.

At the discharge end of the clay-chamber, upon the inner surface of the front and back walls thereof, are formed grooves q to receive the die-plate Q, and this die'plate, as shown 40 in Fig. 3, consists of a long narrow plate with bevel edges to lit the slots q, through which plate is a series of holes (1 q of any desired size or configuration.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The clay-chamber is first drawn outward upon the brackets O and charged with clay. It is then returned beneath the plunger and said plunger placed in operation through a band over pulley F from an engine or other power and the intermediate connections between said band pulley and plunger herein described. The bottom of the clay-chamberbeing closed by a solid or blank plate, the rapid reciprocation or pounding of the plunger into 5 5 and through the clay quickly and thoroughly kneads and works the same into a homogeneous mass of the desired consistency and temper, after which, upon placing the die-plate at the bottom of the clay-chamber, the clay is forced through the openingsin said die-plate and depends from the under side thereof in long strips, as shown in Fig. 2. As these strips come from the die-plate they are received on a board, as in Fig. 4, and when of the desired length are cut off, when, after being dried, they are baked, as usual.

It has been found that the pins when made as herein described were superior in texture than when made under the old process and were stronger and without curls or cracks, and in addition to this the facility and rate of production are very greatly increased.

As before stated, the plui'iger-head is of a size relative to the size of the clay-chamber as to closely lit the same when the clay is being forced through the (lie-plate; but when the clay is being worked the plungerhead is somewhat of less diameter than said chamber to permit the ready passage of the said plunger-head through the clay without packing the same.

llavin g thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows, viz:

1. In a machine for making potters pins, the clay-chamber constructed in two parts flanged at their adjoining edges and bolted together at such flanges, the upper chamber being of a cylindrical shape and the lower chamber widen ed out laterally and contracted toward its lower end, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the upper part of the clay-chamber, flanged at its lower end, of the lower part flanged at its upper end and connected to the upper part, the lower chamber being widened laterally and contracted toward its lower end and arranged to extend at an angle from the upper portion, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with the clay-chamber constructed in two parts, as described, of the grooved flanges of the lower part, the brackets upon which said grooved flanges are arranged to slide, and the plunger and mechanism for operating the same,substant ially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES \V. ONAGI lUE.

Witnesses:

ANDREW .Tas. SMITH, Janus \VOOLVER'ION. 

